


Hold My Hand, Don't Let Go

by ElderPrice



Category: Watchmen (Comic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dan Tells Adrian To Go Fuck Himself, Domestic Fluff, Fluff without Plot, M/M, kinda OOC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 02:57:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19076065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElderPrice/pseuds/ElderPrice
Summary: "You gotta draw the line somewhere! You gotta draw a fuckin' line in the sand, dude! You gotta make a statement! You gotta look inside yourself and say, 'what am I willing to put up with today?' NOT FUCKIN' THIS!!"





	Hold My Hand, Don't Let Go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paxch1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paxch1/gifts).



> thIs doesn't rlly have a plot I just want dan and walter 2 b in love man!!!! they deserve to live together n be alive n tell adrian to fuck off

“Do it?” Adrian begun, in the solemn tone of the lonesome God he thought he was.

“Dan, I’m not a serial republic villain. Do you seriously think I’d explain my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome?” He’d masked it well, but Adrian thought he was above all of this. Sure, he was wearing a silly costume and gave himself the name of a king- but he was above the other men wearing silly costumes. Now, for the kicker.

“I did it thirty five minutes ago.” 

Emotion set in slowly for Nite Owl, and then plummeted hastily through the facade and caved into Daniel Dreiberg. Lives lost, and he didn’t help. Death. Without help. Only two connected concepts firing in his head. Then a third, the psychopath stood in front of him. Another thought arose from the overload of information. Who gave him the right to make that decision? Who gave any of them the right to make sweeping conclusions to complex subjects? 

Dan opened his mouth to speak, and he looked at Adrian. He wanted an argument. He wanted the passive Dreiberg to try to convince him that mass homicide is bad. Dan closed his mouth. 

“Alright, no place for us then I guess.” That’s all Dan could do. Adrian wanted another fight, he wanted his story with all of his pawns and Dan figured he didn’t have to play into it. Adrian wants to play God? He can play God, Dan, however, will take Rorschach by the hand and reflect on how much time he spent in an owl costume. 

“Daniel…” Rorschach started, as Dan spun around on his heel. “Can’t let him get away…” Oddly, Rorschach didn’t object to the hand holding.

“If Adrian wants to play God in his Egyptian Halloween costume in the middle of the arctic then fine, it’s way too late but I want out of the game.” Dan couldn’t string words together properly, that damn cat was circling them like they were mice. 

Rorschach looked at Dan, then to Adrian. Dan leaned in close to Rorschach.

“He wants us to fight. We don’t have to,” Dan knew Rorschach would object morally, and he did.

“All those people, dead. Murderer standing in front of us.” Rorschach’s sharp tone bit into Dan. He knew he wasn’t winning an argument with Rorschach or Adrian, so he just squeezed Rorschach’s hand and looked from the cat to Rorschach. He couldn’t see Rorschach’s eyes and Rorschach couldn’t see his, but they shared the same nervousness. Past the precipice of doomsday, the clocks ticked behind them. 

“There’s no helping them right now, buddy.” With that, Dan dragged Rorschach out of the room. Adrian called after them, invoking the same coldness outside the base. They broke into a run, and to their own amazement, were on Archie before they knew it. 

Rorschach breathed deeply, “Cowardly.” 

A shiver went up Dan’s back, he didn’t have much of a defense for himself. 

Rorschach continued - “Signed up for this. Need to see it through, can’t run away as Veidt destroys the world.”

“We signed up to fight street crime! Rorschach, we don’t have to play into his hand-” Dan was breathing too fast, everything was too fast.

“Not about us.” Rorschach couldn’t collect himself though he tried. Splotches small, tearing apart and barely reconnecting. He held the back of Dan’s seat like it was the only thing keeping him up.

“Don’t get to stop when things get too hard.” Rorschach said as Archie sprung to life and Dan began to maneuver away from the glacier.

“Veidt will just find us.” Rorschach protested, but they were already off the ground. 

“Let him. He already ended it, we know who killed the Comedian. We know who banished Manhattan. New York’s dead. The end, close book, roll credits.” Rorschach sat down and ran a hand across his face, it kept sinking in.

 

Dan and Rorschach Walter woke up around the same time. They laid in bed, curtains drawn with morning light barely peeking through. Dan held Walter’s hand, all he wanted was to hold him close and bury his face in Walter’s neck. It had been years, and while Dan knew better, no one had come asking for a Dreiberg or Kovacs. So he just held Walter, warm, under the morning light. 

“Need to get to work.” Walter’s voice hadn’t lost his edge, but it was light. It was light and it was soft, like the soft petals of a rose sprung from the sharp stem that it grew from. Dan hoped Walter knew, that Dan wouldn’t trade this life for anything. That Dan looked at Walter’s smile and felt blessed that they both lived for that moment. 

“Not just yet,” Dan kept his arms around Walter, who sighs. He doesn’t move though, and squeezes Dan’s hand. Dan closes his eyes briefly, and he hopes Walter knows that no matter what life they have, he’ll still love him.


End file.
